QPS Health Services

When the weather gets cold, the furnace and fireplace go on, bringing their own issues with them. Don’t skip over these tips for making your home safe for your kids, and yourself.

• Install a carbon monoxide detector in your home. Everyone should do this, but it's extra important if you use a fireplace or other non-electric heating source.
• Test your home for radon. The winter months are the best time to do a radon test. Exposure to radon in the home, something that occur anywhere in the country, is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, and children are at particular risk both due to time spent in the home, and their sensitivity to the cancer-causing effect of radon. This isn’t usually something that we think about with pediatrics, but your children will thank you years down the line if you take time now to ensure their safety.

Seasonal flu is caused by a virus that infects your lungs, nose, and throat. Flu season starts in the fall and continues through early spring. The flu comes on very quickly and makes you feel very sick, but most people feel better within a week. Symptoms include: fever, tiredness/weakness, muscle and joint aches, cough, headache, sore throat, and runny/stuffy nose. The flu virus changes every year. The seasonal flu vaccine protects against three or four influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common during the upcoming season. Getting a flu vaccine this season may help keep more people healthy this year, which is particularly important as there are increases in respiratory illness in infants and children. Most of these illnesses are caused by respiratory viral infections, including common seasonal viruses like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus and enterovirus, and influenza. Infants and children may be particularly susceptible to seasonal respiratory viral infections.

A COLD:

Seldom have a fever

Feel stuffiness in your head

Feel a little sick

Occurs any time of the year

No shot to protect you

THE FLU:

Fever (100 degrees F or higher)

Muscle aches or body aches

Feel very sick

Starts in the fall and continues through early spring

Can get a shot to protect you

COVID-19:

Fever (100 degrees F or higher)

Muscle aches or body aches

Cough (not due to other known causes such as chronic cough)

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

New loss of taste or smell

Sore throat

Headache, when in combination with other symptoms

Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms

Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea

Nasal congestion or runny nose(not due to other known causes such as allergies) when in combination with other symptoms

Whether it’s a cold virus, the flu virus, RSV, or COVID-19 - viruses spread easily from person to person through coughing or sneezing. The virus also gets on things you touch like doorknobs, phones, and toys. After touching these objects, the virus can infect you when you touch your mouth, nose, or eyes.

You can lower your chances of getting and spreading a virus:

- Get a flu shot, Covid booster (RSV vaccine for infants and adults older than 60)

- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you don't have a tissue then cough into your inner elbow

- Wash your hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand gel

- Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose and mouth

- Wear a mask

- Use a household cleaner to clean handles, keyboards, phones and toys

- If you are sick, stay home

- If a person of any age has a fever for more than 3 days, you should call a doctor.

Submitted by: Kathleen Torraco BSN, RN, NCSN

• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• If your child is sick, (fever, vomiting, or diarrhea) keep your child home for at least 24 hours AFTER illness is gone. Fever should be gone without the use of fever reducing medicines.

A child, who feels very ill, is too uncomfortable to learn.

Your child cannot attend school when experiencing the following:

• A fever, 100 degrees or higher, within 24 hours of school. Do not give your child medication in the morning for an elevated temperature and then send them to school. A fever signifies illness and should be treated as such with rest, fluids and Tylenol.
• Vomiting or loose stools within 24 hours of school.
• A cough that keeps your child awake, is painful or excessive and uncontrolled.
• A sore throat for 24 hours, especially with swollen glands or fever. If your child has been diagnosed with strep throat, they must remain home for at least 24 hours after they start antibiotic treatment.
• A suspicious rash or eye drainage should be evaluated by your child’s doctor before coming to school.
• Lice needs to be successfully treated before returning to school.

To allow for surveillance of contagious illnesses, notify your school nurse if your child has been diagnosed with the following: Covid-19, Strep Throat, Pertussis (“Whooping Cough”), Conjunctivitis, Impetigo, Scabies, MRSA (Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus), Lice, Fifth Disease, Influenza (the flu), or other contagious illnesses.

• You can get the flu from a flu shot. The flu shot is made from a killed virus, so this can't cause the flu. Even the nasal spray flu vaccine, although it is made from a live, attenuated virus, and should not be used for people with a weak immune system, doesn’t cause the flu.
• Extra vitamins and minerals can keep your kids from getting sick in the winter. Although some parents load their kids up with extra orange juice and Vitamin C and other vitamins that claim to boost their immunity, they likely won't keep your kids from catching colds and the flu during the winter.
• Kids can catch a cold from playing out in the cold weather, especially if they don’t wear a jacket or their hair gets wet. Colds and flu are caused by viruses, not by being outside in the cold.
• Of course, if your child is playing outside with someone who is sick with a cold, they may very well get sick too. Being underdressed in cold weather still isn’t a good idea though.
• You can’t get a sunburn during the winter. Although the sun’s rays might not be as strong in the winter as they are in the summer, they can still cause sunburns, especially when they reflect off snow. Be sure to use sunscreen year round.
• Your kids can stop their allergy medicines during the winter. Not all kids have seasonal allergies that are only triggered during the spring or fall. Some kids have year-round allergies, even during the winter. These children, who may be allergic to dust mites, mold, or pet dander, would likely do well to continue taking their allergy medicines during the winter.
• Kids need an antibiotic every time they have a runny nose, especially once the discharge is green or yellow. This is perhaps one of the more dangerous winter health myths, as it can lead to overuse of antibiotics which aren't needed for most runny noses.

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When you may have a respiratory virus...‎

Stay home and away from others (including people you live with who are not sick) if you have respiratory virus symptoms that aren't better explained by another cause. These symptoms can include fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose, and headache, among others.*

• You can go back to your normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, both are true:
• Your symptoms are getting better overall, and
• You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication).

• When you go back to your normal activities, take added precaution over the next 5 days, such as taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing, and/or testing when you will be around other people indoors.
• Keep in mind that you may still be able to spread the virus that made you sick, even if you are feeling better. You are likely to be less contagious at this time, depending on factors like how long you were sick or how sick you were.
• If you develop a fever or you start to feel worse after you have gone back to normal activities, stay home and away from others again until, for at least 24 hours, both are true: your symptoms are improving overall, and you have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication). Then take added precaution for the next 5 days.